The present invention relates to wash basins for domestic use, particularly in contemporary design settings.
Wash basins and sinks are now a common domestic or household feature for bathrooms and xe2x80x9cpowderxe2x80x9d rooms, usually set into or mounted at their upper rims onto a countertop and equipped with hot and cold water faucets or controls and a single spigot, an overflow passage, and a bottom drain with a closable stopper. Such basins and sinks occasionally, and now more commonly, are formed as were old-time simple basins or bowls, like a porcelain bowl simply set atop a surface without plumbing, but actually having running water.
All such basins and sinks suffer the problem that soap, dirt, toothpaste, hair, shaving cream, and other detritus from their users often drops onto the surface in the basin or sink. The detritus must be separately washed away by the user, unless it happens to fall into the flow from the spigot itself, but that flow is not intended to cover all the inside surface of the basin or sink. Where the detritus is not separately rinsed away, it can be very unappealing to users who come later. When it dries, it can become difficult to remove without use of specific cleaning products.
Although sinks have been known with similar structures or intended functions, none has provided the function in an aesthetically pleasing and fully functional way. Cheng U.S. Pat. No. 4,231,123 shows a plurality of separate inlet and overflow slots formed about the upper, inner periphery of an inset sink structure, with temperature controls for the inlet water, but no separate, main water inlet; that is, all water comes into the basin through the peripheral inlets, as in a toilet or dentist""s spittal receptacle with whirling flow. U.S. Pat. No. 913,323 shows separate cocks for introducing water to a public washbasin and a whirling internal flow through jets 13. Cohen U.S. Pat. No. 1,426,046 is similar, for a sink or bath tub.
An object of the present invention is to provide a useful and attractive domestic wash basin or sink having a film of flowing water protecting the interior of the basin or sink from deposits of detritus such as soap, dirt, hair, toothpaste, shaving cream, and the like often accompanying the use of such utility. The sink or basin of the invention has the usual water spigot fed by faucets for controlling the flow into the basin, for hand washing and the like. A uniform peripheral water inlet about the inside surface of the bowl below the upper rim creates a smooth downward flow of water in a thin film on all sides of the basin from the water film inlet to the basin drain. A similar peripheral water overflow port or channel is formed in the inside surface of the bowl below the water inlet channel, for removing excess water as when the drain is blocked but water continues to come into the bowl. The water coming through the peripheral inlet may be hot, cold, tempered, or adjustable in temperature, and its volume may be set automatically or be adjustable by a user. The spigot and the water film flow may be used together or separately, either one without the other, if so structured in the plumbing connections.